The landlords in New York City are furious over city’s new law-mandated composting policy. As per the Department of Sanitation, NYC residents will have to separate food waste from trash. Those who fail to do so, will receive a fine of $25, starting April 1. Although the law of mandatory composting came into effect in October 2024, a warning period until April 2025 was introduced.
Vincent Gragnani, a spokesman for Sanitation, said, “Every building in NYC handles trash differently, but for decades they have ALL been required to sort their recyclables — and now they are required to sort their compostable material as well.”
“Whether that means bins on every floor or bins in one common area such as a basement would be up to the building management. The bottom line is that food and yard waste must be separated from trash and put out on recycling day so that we can turn it into finished compost or clean energy,” Grafnani added.
The compostable material includes fruits, vegetables, meat, tea bags, napkins, coffee filters, bones, dairy, prepared food, and any other products labelled compostable. As per the new rule, all food, yard and food-soiled paper waste must be set out in a bin on recycling day. Failing to do so, landlords of buildings that comprise one to eight units can face fines starting at $25 for the first offence, $50 for the second and $100 for subsequent offences.
MANDATORY COMPOSTING: The Department of Sanitation made #composting mandatory back in October and issued warnings to those who don’t comply. The agency will issue property owners a fine if they don’t #compost, starting April 1. – https://t.co/2v362r5ECM#News12 #NYC #environment pic.twitter.com/C3TcYjjkDb
— News 12 New York (@News12) March 17, 2025
Meanwhile, buildings with nine or more units will face a minimum fine of $100 for a first offence, $200 for the second offence and $300 for additional offences. To enforce this rule, sanitation supervisors may randomly search trash bags. Though this isn’t a new rule and is reportedly applied in several cities around the world, the landlords of NYC have expressed their concern.
As per a report by The New York Post, the property owners believe that tenants might not follow this rule, and the consequences will be borne by landlords. As a result, the responsibility will fall upon maintenance staffers who’ll have to get their hands into the disposed trash and separate the food waste.
Kenny Burgos, the New York Apartment Association CEO, in a chat with the portal, said, “We don’t think that forcing hard-working building supers to be elbow-deep sorting through tenants’ garbage — turning building maintenance into a daily dumpster dive — is where the government should be focusing their energy and resources right now.”
To get more people to participate in its mandatory composting program, New York City plans to ramp up enforcement. Starting April 1, property owners who don’t follow the rules will be subject to fines: https://t.co/MXuwiRiXJE pic.twitter.com/945iQRgPbv
— Gothamist (@Gothamist) March 28, 2025
John Crotty, who manages multiple buildings across NYC, expressed his anger as he said to The Post, “I challenge the people who passed this law and are trying to implement it on the backs of the housing people in the city of New York to spend two weeks sorting through garbage to see how well it works, especially in a multifamily building with a huge garbage chute.”
He added that tenants might not bother to separate the trash themselves as they’ll be slapped with fines. Expressing his concern for the maintenance staffers, he said, “If you’ve ever had to change diapers — that is disgusting. Now you have a garbage bag full of everyone else’s diapers and everything else they have. Are you going to [send workers in there]? It’s not kind to the people who work in the building.”
“They don’t care about the employees who work in these buildings at all. It is an impossible standard — it is detached from reality,” he commented on the city officials.
